Idiot Strawberry
by ElfenbeinDaemon
Summary: Just a small drabble oneshot. Ichigo went and got himself hurt, Rukia came to save him and left with injuries. The rest unfolds. This is the first time I've ever published anything, so please R & R!


**Idiot Strawberry**

My pathetic first attempt at a fanfic

* * *

--The Dark--

Darkness. No light, no sound, no nothing. He was completely alone, enclosed in a sickening darkness that seemed to suck the life from his body. Suddenly, a memory flashed by, giving him a momentary glance into his past life. Dark, luxurious hair, curling down to shoulder length, nearly blending in with the dark robe of a shinigami. Then, there was movement. She turned slowly, her hair in sharp contrast to her milk-white skin, revealing the nape of her neck, her delicate ear, and her finely chiseled, beautiful face. And then, her eyes, those beautiful, deep violet eyes, filled with tranquility and a silent laughter at him. The name… What was her name? He knew he should know it but the darkness was reaching for him, enclosing him, pulling him down, down, down… No! He would not give in to the darkness! He searched his memory frantically, looking for the name he knew he needed, groping every inch of his mind to find it, and then… His eyes snapped open, his fists clenched, and with every ounce of energy in him, he screamed her name out at the darkness. "RUKIA!"

--Why Me?--

That had been nearly a month ago. I had been trapped in the deepest dungeon of the Former Captain Aizen's stronghold, and I had been held there, powerless and without hope of ever getting out, when I had managed to snap out of most of my bonds with the Name (a.k.a: a reiatsu enforced shout). I was still amazed that I was alive. Out of the entire mission to save me, Rukia was the only one who had heard me screaming, and had freed me from what was left of my prison. The rescue party had eventually escaped, killing about half of the arrancars there and sustaining several damaging wounds themselves. I came out of it easier than she had. I was left with severe mental trauma and mainly superficial bruises, but had been able to walk out, with Rukia in my arms. She had been caught in a Grande Cero from one of the espadas, but had managed to block most of the attack. What little got past her guard was enough to fling her through several stone walls, leaving her with a broken arm, broken legs, several cracked and shattered ribs, and a (thankfully) minor skull fracture. The sight of her lying there had somehow given me enough power to decapitate the bastard, slice through about three walls of rock, pick up Rukia, and get the hell out of there. She had been in rehab since. And I was now waiting around under a tree in the middle of the Seireitei.

"Ichigo! Get off your ass and come with me!" I looked up at… Uryuu. Of course it would be Uryuu. After all, he was the one of the few in Seireitei who would even think about saying that to me now, and in a strange way, he found that comforting. Somehow, it was good to know that I was human. _Well_, I thought with a silent smirk,_ at least a soul reapers dress sense is better than a Quincy's_. "Come on already! Rukia's finally awake!"

"What! Why didn't you just say so you idiot?" I almost yelled at the suddenly demure figure standing before him.

"I did, you just weren't listening…," came Uryuu's insolent reply. Goddammit, I really needed to beat some sense into him sometime.

"Fine," I said and then began to quickly run to the hospital of the Sereitei. It took me about ten seconds, but considering that I was using shunpo it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise. The hospital itself was a vast white building, a red cross emblazoned on the front, reaching from one wall to the other and touching the ground and the roof. I didn't bother with going through the front door; I just leapt up to her window.

And there she was, still lying down on the hospital bed, looking just as pale and sickly as when I last saw her, fifteen minutes ago. And that was because the nurse had thrown Zangetsu out of the window, while yelling at me that Rukia needed rest and did not need to be bothered by me. This was funny really, considering that she was unconscious and I was simply sitting in a corner, watching her and waiting for her to wake up.

I quietly removed Zangetsu from my back, leaning him against the wall, and then moved to the chair that was next to Rukia's bed. I looked her over, admiring her beautiful features that remained radiant, no matter how hard the injuries tried to prevent it. I stiffened. Had she moved? The entirety of the time I had spent at her side (three weeks, six days, eleven hours, thirteen minutes, and forty-eight seconds, not counting now) she hadn't even moved and eyelid, excepting of course the steady and slow rising of her chest, which I did my best not to watch too intently.

There. She moved again, her head turning a little to the shadow which I cast over her small body, and one of her hands clenching into fist.

"I-ichi-go…" she whispered, so quietly that I could barely hear her. I was suddenly frozen, but somehow filled with warmth at the same time. It was really weird, but… it wasn't unpleasant, just a little confusing. I slowly reached my hand out to touch her arm, and her eyes suddenly snapped open.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed, instantly sitting up, and my hand snapped back faster than I normally was in my Bankai. Then her eyes focused on me, and I saw recognition in her eyes, where I could loose myself if I wasn't careful. Those eyes were… Oh, oh no, not this. Her eyes were watering! That could only mean one thing: she was going to cry. I mean, I do have two younger siblings who do cry sometimes, but even then I preferred to stay out of it. I was just not good at comforting women. I really am pathetic. And most of all, Rukia just _doesn't_ cry.

"Um… Rukia, don't…!" I was abruptly shut up as she first slapped me across the face, burst into tears, and then pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Don't you ever, ever do that again! Don't get yourself stuck in another hellhole like that, ever!" she sobbed into my chest. "If you do, I'm going to personally hunt you down and kill you! Do you understand?"

I struggled, completely confused, but understanding at the same time. But still, what the hell?!? I had just been slapped and now I was being hugged so tightly I couldn't find the air to breath.

"Do you _understand_ me?" she said again, this time a little less wetly and more softly. I also noticed the very hard, cold, icy undercurrent in those words.

"Yes, I understand," I said quietly, slowly pulling back from her. She looked at me for a moment, then hugged her arms around herself and shivered. I suddenly realized that it was freezing in the room "for medical purposes", and quickly took off my outer robe and threw it at Rukia. She glared at me through still dripping eyes for a moment, and then wrapped herself in the robe I had given her.

After about ten seconds I decided that the silence had been enough. After all, silence was what I had endured for three weeks, six days, eleven hours, thirteen minutes, and forty-eight seconds, not counting now.

"Are you alright?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes, I'm alright if you don't count nearly dying, being in horrible pain, and looking at the face of someone you thought was dead," came her sharp reply. Ouch. That hurt. And even though I was a guy, even I could find the sarcasm in that sentiment. She was not happy, was she?

"Umm…" I said lamely. _**Great, now I think that you really can't do anything more stupid. Congrats for getting the idiot award, King.**_ Of course now was the time my inner hollow decided to speak up. Anything to annoy me, he would do.

_Shut up…_

"Yes?" she asked curtly, her hair flipping as she turned her nose into the air and away from me. My god, this wasn't supposed to be so difficult! I actually, probably, maybe, sort of really liked her, and this was getting a little annoying. The permanent scowl on my face deepened for a moment, and then I considered something. When I had stumbled into the hospital with a Rukia near death in my arms, the medics had immediately taken her away and put me in the bed next to her. And the worst thing I remember was that at that point I could barely remember my own name… What if Rukia had lost her memories?!? What would I do? Oh gods, please let the answer to my next question be something that won't make me die.

Rukia looked over at me, seeing my expression change from scowl to puzzlement to shock to horror and then finally, to fear, though I'm pretty sure she didn't recognize it at the time. I had, after all, never really been afraid of anything here, though I probably should have.

"What is it?" she asked, her harsh tone not quite hiding the small amount of care she had for me. I hesitated, and then quietly began to ask my question.

"How far back can you remember?" I said slowly, not taking any chances whatsoever. I couldn't loose her, not again. I almost lost her when she went to the soul society while I was lying in a puddle of blood on the ground, almost lost her again when that bastard Aizen almost killed her by taking out that damned stupid power-sphere or whatever, and I almost lost her again so recently. I would no loose her again.

"Umm…" this time it was Rukia's turn to sound confused. "I remember everything, I think. Why?"

"Because I almost lost my memory, and I don't want to have to endure-nggh!" I said, barely managing to shut myself up in time. God, that was close. She had no need of listening to me make soppy remarks about her.

"What was that last bit?" Rukia asked, looking just like an innocent fifteen-year old girl. My god I couldn't believe she was doing this to me. She knew I hated that, almost as much as I hated her habit of bringing her knee up into my balls if I didn't give her an answer she wanted. Thank god she couldn't do that here.

"I just didn't want to have to go through all the trouble of getting to know someone like you again," I drawled, my natural wit returning. I really should have expected what happened next. She slapped me again, _hard_. Hard enough for me to go skidding off my chair and into a wall.

"Owwww…" I groaned quietly as I looked up at her. Holy crap, as soon as she was out of the hospital she was going to get it. She was frikin' grinning at me!

"Well then, I hope I don't have to get to know an idiot like you again," she teased and stuck out her perfect little tongue at me. Damn! I really hope she knew how much of a tease she was. Actually, scratch that. She definitely knew that she was a tease and she enjoyed torturing anyone around her. Not to mention the fact that she was a royal pain in the ass. I could feel a vein in my forehead pulsing and knew my eyebrow would be twitching slightly.

"At least I won't have to put up with you for another week. I'll come visit again tomorrow and bring you some flowers. Maybe even lilacs," I said with an especially annoyed scowl on my face. I knew she hated lilacs. She was allergic to them, a fact I had learned the last time I tried to get her a valentine, only so that she wouldn't be swamped with little gifts from the rest of the class's male population. It was Kiego in particular that worried me. He seemed to have nothing better to do than to go and try to look up girls' skirts or down their shirts. I mean, he had tried to give Orihime a vibrator as a valentine once.

Rukia swore in quite the unladylike fashion and told me very clearly that if I even considered bringing lilacs, I would have to find a replacement for the arm that was carrying them, as well as anything within three feet of the flowers. At this, I just laughed. I was glad that she was well, that was all.

I eventually departed via the window again, mainly because Rukia and I had had a brief struggle involving why my zanpacto was better than hers, and she had thrown the sword I was gesturing with out the window, again. I don't think she meant to throw me out as well, but seeing as my hand was wrapped in the bandage that covered Zangetzu's hilt, I didn't exactly have a choice. Why me?

--Roses and Recovery--

After recovering from the feeling of hitting the ground at a really, really high speed, I did eventually manage to get to the bunk where I was staying. It was actually a really nice place, considering it had belonged to some junior recruit before I had been told to boot him out. It honestly hadn't been that difficult, seeing as all I had to do was look at him with a deeper scowl than usual and he was _gone_.

But anyway, I had an errand to run. I knew she hated lilacs and cherry blossoms, both for obvious reasons, but I also happened to know something that she had tried to keep hidden. As stereotypical as it was, she loved roses. _Sad, isn't it?_ I asked myself.

_**Yes, it is**__,_ came a drawled reply.

_Oh shut up, will you?_ I silently answered back at the hollow that lived inside me.

_**Well, sorry King, you asked a question about Queen, didn't you?**_

_ Shut up!_ I growled back. It's kind of interesting, actually having an argument with yourself. The first time I had talked to the hollow inside me I had been eating lunch at school. God that was awkward. I can still remember the shocked look on my friends faces as I started shouting for whoever was talking to show themselves and talk to me in a normal way. It took me about ten seconds to realize who it was, but by that time my reputation was already seriously crippled.

_**So, you're going off to buy some flowers for Queenie?**_ he asked maliciously.

_What's it to you? And stop calling her that!_ I mentally raged back. Damn that bastard, what did this have to do with him?

_**Why would I stop calling Rukia Queen? You know that's what she is in here…**_ I shut up. I knew he was right there, but I wasn't about to admit it. And he was avoiding the other question, which pissed me off.

_Oh, fuck off, would you!_

_**Very well…**_ his laughter echoed through my head. God, that thing was annoying. I fought furiously against the slight red tint that had risen to my face while that damn hollow had talked about Queen. Damn it! I couldn't even keep myself from calling her that. Geez, this was going to be annoying. At the very least I did know where a flower shop was. But that was going to have to wait, I decided as I watched the sky darken slowly.

I slowly walked into my bedroom and took Zangetsu off my back. The stand for him was next to the bed, seeing as I had to have one custom made for his unusual size. Most soul reapers just hung their swords on the wall, but I wasn't quite able to trust many of the people here. Especially Kenpachi Zaraki. Good god, he was crazy. If you just went up to him and said hi you might end up in six or more alleys at once. But he was also the only other guy in the soul society who kept his zanpacto near him at all times. It's funny how life works.

"Well, today was eventful," I muttered to myself as I striped and got into bed. At least I would be able to see her smile tomorrow. And with that pleasing image in my head, I fell asleep.

Rukia P.O.V. (During Ichigo's visit)

I was back in Hueco Mundo. Ichigo was fighting Aizen again. And again, Aizen cut him nearly in half again, just like he did on the execution grounds in the Seireitei, causing Ichigo's blood to spray out in a deadly wave. Ichigo swore again, and fell to the ground. I knew that he would be okay, there just wasn't any way that he could die. It was impossible. "No…!" I moaned quietly to myself. I knew that he would be fine late. He had to be! He couldn't leave me now, not with my debt to him unpaid. His life was fucked up because of me, he couldn't lead anything like a normal life. Not to mention that I got a really weird feeling anytime I saw him.

I rushed over to him, breathlessly calling his name.

"I-ichi-go…!" He groaned, and then slowly rolled over. I knelt by him when I suddenly felt a cool touch oh my arm. Considering I was in Hueco Mundo, the touch on my arm could only mean one thing. An Arrancar was here, right behind me. I was suddenly utterly furious. There was no way I was going to let myself be touched by something that vile.

"Don't touch me!" I hissed, snapping my eyes open and sitting bolt upright. I looked to the side of the… bed? Wait, where the hell was I? Umm… Let's see, hospital bed, light and skimpy gown (damn those perverts on the staff), giant meat-cleaver sword leaning against the wall, and that meant… Oh hell. It was Ichigo, and he was holding his hand back as if it had been burned. That, coupled with the slightly shocked and very sad scowl on his face almost immediately made my eyes water. Then I remembered the reason I was here, the reason he had bandages covering all of his upper body and arms, as well as the right hand, and slowly the first tear trickled down my cheek.

"Umm… Rukia, don't…!" Ichigo stammered and then I shut him up by slapping him across the face. He looked stunned for a second, and then I grabbed him in a bear hug, bursting into tears. He relaxed after a second and then stiffened again when I growled at him.

"Don't you ever, ever do that again! Don't get yourself stuck in another hellhole like that, ever! If you do, I will personally hunt you down and kill you. Do you understand?" I almost screamed at him, sobbing furiously into his shirt. I felt him pull away a little, and I had to stop myself from trying to pull him back. "Do you _understand_?" I asked again, more softly, but enjoying the amount of icy resolve I could put into the undercurrent.

"Yes, I understand," he said and slowly pulled away. I hugged the air for a second, and then quickly put my arms around myself, noticing how cold it was. Probably those perverted bastards on the medical staff having fun with their patients' bodies' natural reactions. Ichigo noticed me shivering and without hesitation pulled off his robe. I almost looked away, but saw it was only the outer layer. He threw it at me, and I glared at him for a moment before wrapping it around myself, glad for the warmth. I managed to keep my face straight though, the last thing I needed was seeing a smirk on Ichigo's face. But the next thing I saw was not a smirk, it was actually a rather puzzled, if scowling, expression. It was kind of funny really.

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked tentatively. It was the last thing I had expected to hear.

"Yes, I'm alright if you don't count nearly dying, being in horrible pain, and looking at the face of someone you thought was dead," I replied rather sharply. Oops, I hadn't meant to have it come out that way, but it was just the way I talked to him. I noticed the puzzled scowl become a little more confused, and I almost let my cool outward presence slip.

"Umm…" he said. Was there something he was actually worried about?

"Yes?" I answered, again too curtly for my taste, but that was just me being unhappy with myself. I turned my face away from him, lifting my nose into the air a little, trying to suppress the slight blush that came to my cheeks. Why now, of all times? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ichigo's face undergo a quick series of emotions, first puzzlement, then shock, then horror, and then to something I had never seen on his face before. That actually scared me.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to sound harsh, but slipping up a little. I saw that he had noticed that.

"How far back can you remember?" he asked slowly. I though about it for a moment, then slowly went back through my memories of meeting him. I saw him fight his first hollow, fight Grand Fisher, be stabbed by Byakuya and lie in a pool of blood on the street, felt the spiritual pressure that was his grow stronger every day I was in captivity, saw him fight my adopted brother, and finally be sliced in half by Aizen. I remembered the rest too, but I didn't want that in my mind right now.

"Umm… I remember everything, I think. Why?" I asked confusedly. Ichigo´s concern was really making me nervous now.

"Because I almost lost my memory and I don't want to have to endure-nggh!" he said, ending abruptly.

"What was that last bit?" I asked, trying to look as innocent as possible, which I knew annoyed him. Then he hesitated. That was something new.

"I just didn't want to have to go through all the trouble of getting to know someone like you again," he replied snidely, though I though that was not everything he meant. Oh, well. He insulted me, so I slapped him. I was glad to see I was strong enough for my slap to send him flying into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Owww…" he groaned quietly. I grinned at him when I saw his face. He did look so funny.

"Well I hope I don't have to get to know an idiot like you again" I said. I stuck out my tongue at him, teasing him. It was just too much fun to resist.

"At least I won't have to put up with you for another week. I'll come visit again tomorrow and bring you some flowers. Maybe even Lilacs," he said with a remarkably straight face, minus the permanent scowl, of course. The scowl was somehow hiding any emotion.

"If you do that you're going to have to find a replacement for your arm, not to mention anything within three feet of you!" I ranted at him. I was allergic to Lilacs, something Ichigo had unwittingly discovered back in the human world. There was some thing called Valentines Day, and Ichigo had gotten me some lilacs. That idiot. Of all the flowers he could have gotten me, it had to be stupid fucking lilacs. I guess I should have told him I was allergic to them before. The explanation did soften my anger somewhat, and was actually relatively plausible. He had said that he didn't want Kiego doing something stupid, like giving me some strange… _toy_.

I did explain to him that I got a really annoying reaction anytime I touched them, and I didn't elaborate. I had to spend the next week trying to ignore my spiritually powered libido without being noticed. That hadn't quite worked. But I don't want to remember that.

During my internal monologue, Ichigo just laughed. _Son of a bitch_, I growled mentally. But after that, we managed to get into a fight about whose zanpacto was better. Naturally, I won. Of course, I did do it by grabbing Ichigo's sword and throwing it out the window. He followed after, unintentionally I guess.

_Oh well,_ I thought, and went back to sleep. Being unconscious for so long made me tired.

--Flower Shops and Homicidal Captains--

Ichigo P.O.V.

_**Hey King! Wake up!**_ Oh, come on, this was just too early. I rolled over and looked at my clock. _Ummm… Okay… shorter hand-thingy was in between five and six, and longish arm-thingy was on the seven_. That was just too early. _God this sucks._

_**Hey! ICHIGO!**_ Great, first thing to happen in the morning: get yelled at by a fucking hollow.

_What?_ I complained.

_**GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!**_

"What the…!" I swore as I moved away from the bed. Not a second too soon. The ceiling caved in, and I saw a long, rusty sword stuck through the bed, inches from where I was now.

"Hey Ichigo! It's been too long!" Crap. I knew that voice. Nobody had quite that strange, bloodthirsty, and utterly creepy voice.

"Goddammit Zaraki!" I roared at him. "You bastard! Couldn't you at least wait until I was out of my house?!"

"Why?" came Zaraki's reply. He was really puzzled.

"Because it's my fucking house! _And_ you just stabbed my bed, which could have been me!"

"Well that's the point, you idiot!"

My god, there was no point in reasoning with him. He was just plain old crazy. Well, enough of that. I ran towards the wall, grabbed Zangetsu, and sprinted out of the house.

"BANKAI!" I shouted, immediately feeling myself grow exceedingly powerful and fast. Not to mention the fact that I looked freaking awesome! Anyway, I did not have time to spare. I just ran, shun-poed, and sprinted to get as much distance between me and that madman.

After about an hour of sprinting at top speed, I allowed myself to lean against a wall and release Zangetsu from his bankai state. _Great, now what?_

_**Oh, I don't know, you could just look for the flower shop that is now… about fifteen miles behind us.**_

_Oh hell…_

_**Well, it's your fault!**_

_I know that! Now shut up and go away!_

_**Well, I'll go back to sleep and let you walk all the way back… SUCKER!**_

_Fuck off already!_ Damn that hollow bastard. It was going to take a long time to get to that little flower shop. And why was he being so calm all the time? Oh well. I headed off towards my destination, walking slowly and making sure to keep my guard up. And so my day began.

It was really interesting to watch the soul society during the course of a normal day. There was the amount of shopping, haggling, shouting, and general activity as in the world of the living. The world was just full of spirits instead of living people. It reminded me of the first time Rukia had seen a supermarket. I smiled to myself.

That had been one hell of a day…

_-Flashback-_

"Hey, Ichigo! What is this place?" Rukia yelled at me while I was running from roof to roof with her on my back. We had just finished saving some soul from a hollow.

"What? That's a mall, why?" I yelled back. It was difficult to hear anything against the traffic below me.

"Oooh! What's that?" she asked me, crawling under my shoulder and arm, so that she was hanging on to my stomach instead of my back. That was not uncomfortable, though it was really awkward.

"Umm… it's a place where lots of things are sold," I explained, trying not to blush.

"Can we go there? Please?" she said, her eyes sparkling like amethyst sapphires.

"Not now we can't," I said, rather annoyed.

"Awww…! Please, Ichigo, please?" she whined at me. I hate it when she does that, because I can never say no.

"Okay, okay! We can go, but we have to get our bodies back first," I sighed. There was no way I was going to go into a store without my body.

"Yay!"

It took me a few minutes to get home and get back into my body. We left through the window, seeing as I didn't want to have to beat the crap out of my dad… again. From there it took me about ten minutes to walk to the mall, with Rukia grinning happily beside me.

The one thing that always struck me about the mall was that it was big. Really big. In fact, if was fucking huge! Not to mention that it looked like every time I saw the damn thing it seemed to have grown a couple new stores.

We wandered around that place for hours, with Rukia showing her fascination for all things new all the time. The worst part was when she actually found a Chappy the Bunny store. As soon as she saw it, she was off.

"Hey, Rukia! Get back here!" I shouted at her quickly disappearing form. I sprinted after her and grabbed her arm. That didn't stop her though. She just kept on going, with me being dragged behind.

"C'mon Ichigo! We're going to go see Chappy!" she grinned at me.

"Oh come on, you can't go into a stupid Chappy store!"

"Chappy is not stupid!" she wailed at me. Oh god no, she was going to cry, right here, right now, and in front of all these people.

"Alright, alright already. You can go into the Chappy store…" I said quickly to appease her.

"No! _We_ are going into the Chappy store."

"But Rukia…!" I whined at her. It really wouldn't be good to be seen in a Chappy store, no matter who I was with.

"Come on Ichigo!" Rukia grinned again. It really wasn't fair, that she could manipulate me so easily. And so I was dragged into the Chappy store.

"Ichigo! Can I get this?" Rukia asked me almost immediately. She had a white blanket with a pink bunny design in her hands.

I sighed. "Rukia… you know that I don't have much money, right?"

"You do have money! And I can pay you back, no problem! But I don't have it right now, so you can buy it, okay?"

"How can you pay me back? You're in the living world, so you don't have any money."

"I am an adopted member of the richest family in the soul society…"

"Okay, okay… fine then. You can get this stuff, I guess…"

Great. Now I was going to be paying for stuff I really didn't want. How did she get me into doing this? She dragged me around the store for about twenty minutes, picking up almost everything in her path. By the time we got to the checkout counter, she had almost an entire shopping cart filled with rabbit themed items.

I used my credit card, seeing as if I had tried to pay in cash, I would have had to break into several ATMs. It was worth it seeing the look on her face though. She was grinning her head off, her face slightly flushed with excitement. Well, it was almost worth it. If she hadn't made me carry the bags it would have been well worth it. She stopped me before we went into the house.

"Hey, Ichigo…" she said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you so much for getting all this stuff! It was really nice of you, and it was kind of unusual that you let something like this happen, but thank you so much!"

I grinned (unusual, I know). "Hey, no problem. You do realize you owe me though, right?"

"Um… yeah, but why?"

I smirked at her. "I will collect my debt from you when I feel like it, and you will give me anything I want…" I said suggestively. Rukia immediately followed her natural reactions and punched me.

"Shut up you pervert!" she yelled at me, blushing furiously. I laughed and headed into the house. She followed soon after.

_-End Flashback-_

I had been walking for nearly three hours now, having been remembering all the good times in the world of the living. Without consciously thinking about it, I found myself approaching the flower shop that I had intended to visit earlier. The people were nice, and they didn't immediately assume strange things. Not to mention that their prices were unbeatable.

I chose a dozen roses, ten red and one each of black and white. The girl working at the register arranged them for me so that the red encircled the black and white, leaving those next to each other, looking a little like yin and yang. I thanked her quietly, paid, and then left. _Well, that went unusually well…_

_**Yes, it did, didn't it?**_

_Didn't I just say that you moron?_

_**You have a tendency to be stupid.**_

_Shut up!_

_**What? You know it's true…**_

_I said shut the hell up!_

The internal conversation over, I checked the time. It was around noon, meaning I had… damn, about ten minutes to get to the hospital before the mid-day visiting hours were over. The later timeframe was around five to something like seven.

"Damn" I muttered to myself and then started jogging towards the hospital. It wasn't that far away, so I would have a good couple of minutes to talk to Rukia. I took my usual route, meaning I just jumped onto the rooftops and traveled in a straight line towards the hospital.

I reached my destination relatively quickly, but I noticed something was wrong almost immediately. Rukia was being watched by… oh hell. Not him. He _still_ hates me. He always has. Stupid, stupid Byakuya Kuchiki. Why the hell did he have to choose this time to visit Rukia? Oh well, here goes nothing.

"Hello, Byakuya," I said cautiously.

"Kurosaki. If you must converse with me, then address me as Captain Kuchiki," came his cool response.

"How are you?"

"Fine," he glanced at the roses in my hand. "What are those?" he said, his normally calm face darkening a little.

"Ummm… roses?" I said, felling a little nervous.

"You are not of noble blood, you have nothing to offer, and you are… _human_! How dare you attempt to court Rukia!" he spat at me.

"Wait! What? I'm not trying to court Rukia, I'm just bringing her some flowers!"

"Fool! Do you think your petty lies cover the truth? You shall die here and now!"

Of course, this was the point that Rukia decided to wake up. I have no idea why it took her so long, but she did come awake just in time to hear Byakuya say "Scatter, Senbonsakura".

"Wait!" she yelled at her brother, who looked at her angrily.

"This is for your own good! You cannot have a human court you, you are Kuchiki!" he almost yelled, his calm and collected disposition slipping more and more.

"Who's trying to court me?" I heard Rukia ask, now totally confused. I came in through the window.

"He thinks that I am," I said, making a rather dramatic entrance through the window. That is to say, I entered with my reiatsu making my shinigami uniform flap in a nonexistent wind and my eyes glowing their pale, almost white, blue that intimidated even Byakuya.

"Oh? And you can stop flaunting that reiatsu of yours, I am still trying to recover, and with you doing that I can hardly breathe!" she scolded me, despite barely being able to breathe.

"Oh, sorry," I said, reigning in my reiatsu as much as I could.

"You shall not court my sister!" Byakuya interrupted.

"Look, I'm not trying to court your sister! I just got her some get-well flowers!"

"You did what?" Rukia asked incredulously. I sighed.

"I got you some get well flowers. What's so strange about that?" I said, just a little embarrassed.

Rukia grinned. "Does this mean you actually care?" I couldn't believe her.

"Why do you think I went through all the trouble of saving a midget like you?" I glared at her.

"Shut up! I'm not a midget!"

"Yes, you are, and these are for you," I said calmly, enjoying the flustered look on her face when I held out the flowers to her.

"No! I cannot allow this! Scatter, Senbonsakura!" Byakuya shouted, his normally calm mask slipping into one of fury. This was just stupid. I swung Zangetsu off my back and pointed it at Byakuya. Having a huge zanpakto was actually pretty useful, seeing as I was simply holding it from halfway across the room and it was at his throat.

"Don't make me go bankai on your ass! I've only gotten stronger and kicking your ass will be so easy I won't even break into a sweat!" I shouted my not-so-empty threat. That actually had the captain of squad 6 stopped for a few seconds. Then he glared at me, gathered his blade, and left the room.

As he stood in the door, he called back to me. "If I find that you have touched my sister, I will send my entire squad _and_ squad eleven after you." Then, he left. I glanced at Rukia, who was sitting with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Well, that was eventful…" I muttered, rubbing my head and leaning Zangetsu against the wall. Rukia was still just lying there, gazing at the wall with a blank look on her face. "Hello, midget, anyone home?" I poked her head.

"Yes, someone's here," she said and grabbed my finger, twisting it back.

"Owww! Dammit, that hurt, you bitch! And I need that!"

"For what?"

"Well, what else would I poke you with?" I teased.

"Oh, just shut up…" What was wrong with her? I had at the very least expecting a slap or a kick to the shins, but nothing came. I frowned more.

"What's wrong, Rukia?" I asked, poking her in the side with my other hand.

"Nothing's wrong."

"That's not true. I just poked you in the side and you didn't even notice. Something is obviously wrong."

"You did?"

"Yes, I did, and this only goes to prove my point."

"Fine. My brother was being creepy. And you brought me flowers."

"And your point about the flowers is?" I asked, this time a bit less grouchy and a little more softly.

"They're roses. I love roses, but how did you know? And…" she trailed off, blushing slightly.

"I saw some of your doodles once. You drew some horrible thing giving a rose to some not so horrible looking thing. And what was the last bit?" I finished with a question, because I didn't want her to know that I had overheard a conversation between her and Orihime.

"And you were stupid. Roses are the most expensive flowers in Seireitei. Of course my brother thinks you're trying to court me," she said, now calm and collected. I could tell that there was more, but I let it go.

"Oh. Sorry," I muttered again, but Rukia just shook her head and laughed. Then she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. I was surprised, but hugged her back.

"Thank you for the flowers, Ichigo. They're my absolute favorite…" she murmured into my chest. I grinned.

"Anytime, Rukia, anytime…" I muttered softly, holding her. I was content to hold her forever like that, but after a couple of minutes she began to pull away. I tried to pull her back, but stopped myself. I couldn't help myself but grin at her when she looked away. She was blushing. But probably not as much as I was.

"Ummm…" she said awkwardly.

"Ummm…" I agreed. The door burst open, causing us both to whip our heads around in surprise. The nurse stood in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"Visiting hours… are… over!" she panted. She straightened up and pulled out a letter. "This is for you, Mr. Kurosaki. And you, Miss Rukia, need rest." With that said, she left the room.

"Well, that was interesting," I mentioned, looking down at the envelope in my hand. "Hey, Rukia, what does it mean if there is a red ribbon around the edges of the envelope?"

"What? It has a red ribbon?" she said, seemingly caught off guard.

"Ummm… yeah… but what does it mean?" I asked, this time more hesitantly.

"Well, a red ribbon means…" she looked down and blushed. "That someone has asked for… either your hand in marriage, or permission to court you…"

"Wait, what?" I was completely dumbfounded. "But don't the guys ask the girls? I mean, that's just not right…"

Rukia blushed more. "Well, Ichigo, getting an envelope like that can also mean that there has been an arranged marriage…"

I paled. "Oh holy shit…" I stared down at the envelope in horror. "You can't be serious…"

"Well, actually, I'm not," Rukia stated, looking at me gleefully. I couldn't believe it.

"You little…" I growled menacingly. "I'm going to kill you! You freaking tricked me! I've never been so panicked in my life! Holy shit!"

Rukia laughed. In fact, she was crying she was laughing so hard. She was beautiful when she laughed, and I wanted to keep her laughing.

"Stupid midget! I thought the friggin envelope was from you!

"What?" she asked. Rukia looked completely confused. Now it was my turn to laugh.

"It says it's from the Kuchiki household."

"Well, open it then, you stupid idiot."

"Fine," I muttered and then tore open the envelope.

_Ichigo Kurosaki,_

_It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that as of tomorrow you must return to Karakura Town. Your current role of substitute shinigami has been promoted to the equal status of captain. Once you have returned to your hometown, you will serve your role as protector of your sector. Please be at the Gate at noon tomorrow. _

_ Captain Kuchiki_

"Jeez…" I swore quietly.

"What?" Rukia whined at me. "Let me see it!" Normally, I would have argued with her or held it over my head, but this time I just let her have it. She scanned the letter, a look of shock registering on her face. "Wow, Ichigo… I knew you would probably be a captain when you came to the soul society, but I wasn't expecting you to be elevated to that rank so soon…"

"No kidding," I sighed. "And the worst part is I have to leave before you're healed."

"Why is that so terrible?" Rukia asked, smirking at me.

"Because it's my fault!" I roared suddenly, my simmering anger and guilt coming to a boil, and then exploding. "IT'S MY FUCKING FAULT THAT YOU HAD TO GET HURT SO BADLY, THAT YOU WERE STUCK IN A HOSPITAL FOR A MONTH, AND MIGHT HAVE LOST YOU MEMORY! IT"S ALL MY FAU-". Wham. I was interrupted by Rukia's fist. I couldn't help but slump down and just howl my fury and frustration at the world. (Thank god for soundproof walls)

"Ichigo, you stupid idiot, don't blame yourself. If anything, it's my fault. I fucked up your life from the beginning. You would have had a perfectly normal life if I hadn't shown up and given you my powers. It's my fault that you… that you…" she trailed off, slowly beginning to cry. I just looked at her, completely dumbfounded. I always thought it was my fault.

_Crap, this is going to get mushy… I wonder if she knows I even have a slightly romantic side… _I mused. "Rukia… look at me…" I asked softly, almost begging her to comply.

"What, Ichigo? Don't even start to blame yourself again, 'cause it's all my…" she managed before breaking out in sobs again. I sighed. Damn this was difficult.

"Rukia, stop blaming yourself…" I said quietly, pulling her into a hug. "I know that if you hadn't given me your powers that night, my life would have been boring and I wouldn't be able to protect the people I care about, and especially…" I looked at her, locking her eyes in my gaze, "… the person I love…" This was getting way to mushy. I looked away, blushing furiously. Rukia moved against my chest, hugging me back and pulling me towards her.

"Oh Ichigo… you idiot…" she murmured softly, leaning herself against me. It was nice, just holding her. "I guess…" she said shakily, voice muffled by my chest, "that I love you too…. My idiot strawberry…"

If you're reading this, thanks so much for sticking through to the end! I don't know if I'll keep writing or not. Please R & R! I look forward to writing much more for anyone who wants to read anything. Thank you so much! ~CrysusFayte

P.S. I'm really new to this so if someone could message me with an explanation on how to make chapters I would very much appreciate the help


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